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Pipe organ recital to feature Dr. John C. Walker

T.W. Burger, Chambersburg
Published 4:32 p.m. ET Aug. 14, 2015

John C. Walker, national president of the American Guild of Organists and a former resident of Franklin County, will be featured in an organ recital Sept. 27 in Central Presbyterian Church, Chambersburg.(Photo: Submitted)

CHAMBERSBURG >> The pipe organ is the oldest of all the more complex musical instruments, according to Franklin County native John Walker.

It is also the only instrument which takes two hands and two feet to play.

Walker, now 73, grew up in the Path Valley area, where his father served as minister of the Upper Path Valley Presbyterian Church in Spring Run.

Walker lived in the area during his father's service to the church, from 1946 to 1956, and 60 years ago this month Walker took his first organ lesson, under the eye of Dr. Harry Gay at Wilson College. Walker attended elementary and junior high school in the Fannett Metal School District and attended James Buchanan for his freshman year in high school.

Now a renowned organist, Walker is also president of the American Guild of Organists. He has been invited to give a recital to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the installation of the Casavant pipe organ in the sanctuary of Central Presbyterian Church, 40 Lincoln Way West.

The Casavant is a type of organ with origins in Canada, back in the 19th century. The Chambersburg instrument was installed in 1940.

The rededication recital at the church is scheduled for 3 p.m. Sept. 27.

"The organ has a long history of connection with organized religion," Walker said. "It actually has the longest history of any instrument.

"It first showed up in Egypt, 250 years before of the birth of Christ, as part of a science experiment."

That instrument, called a hydraulis, was reportedly a "fairly raucous instrument, Walker said, and was generally played outdoors.

The hydraulis disappeared around the time of the end of the Roman Empire, but around the year 800 A.D., King Pippin the Short of France received one as a gift from Persia. Pippin gave it to a monastery, and the long association of religion and organ music was off.

"In contrast, the piano wasn't invented until 1709," Walker said.

Walker said that pedigree has created more than 1,200 years of repertoire, and a number of playing styles as the pipe organ took root in England, Germany, Spain and other countries.

"The Germans were the first to add the pedal board to organs, allowing them to play a separate line of music with the feet," Walker said. "The organ is the only instrument in which all four limbs are used to play it."

Walker said every pipe organ is unique, which is why an organist arrives for a recital several days before the date to get acquainted with the instrument.

Organs vary in size, too. It is common for pipe organs in churches and other venues to have 60 or 70 pipes. The organ at Longwood Gardens, near Philadelphia, has more than 10,000.

"The keyboard station can be very complicated," said Walker. "Like sitting in the cockpit of a jet airliner."

Walker said his recital will include pieces by Purcell, Walther, Bach, Vivaldi, Mendelssohn, Schumann and others. The pieces are planned in part to show off some of the amazing abilities of the instrument, he said.

Walker has recorded frequently on the Pro Oregano, Gothic, and JAV Recordings labels. Recently in Taiwan, he was both conductor and organist for two CD recordings in which the choir sang hymn texts in Mandarin and in Taiwanese. Pipedreams, the nationally syndicated program of Minnesota Public Radio, has often broadcast performances by John Walker. In October, 2006, Pipedreams titled its entire weekly program "Walker on the Wild Side."

Walker earned the doctor of musical arts degree at Stanford University, where he was assistant university organist. He has two master of music degrees, cum laude, from American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, where he was later a member of the faculty.

Dr. Walker was the 1984 alumni recipient of the Professional Achievement Award from Westminster College, New Wilmington, Pennsylvania. In 1999 he was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to teach and perform in Taiwan.

In May 2015, he became the first American organist to teach as a visiting professor at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in China.

"Returning to Chambersburg will be very nostalgic to me — this will be going back to my childhood for me," he said.